The Splendor Of Thailand

As anticipation continues to build for Thursday's premiere of "Survivor: Thailand," host Jeff Probst gives The Early Show viewers an inside look at the setting for tribal councils.

"One of the cool things about shooting 'Survivor' in Thailand is it gave our production design team a chance to incorporate all of the beauty, the ornate nature of Thailand into our tribal council," says Probst.

"So we visited various parts of Thailand and we took bits and pieces and put them all together to create a composite of the look, but something that was still uniquely 'Survivor.'"

Even the stools that the Survivors will sit on have a look that is not familiar to viewers in the West. They are made of a glass, inlaid with gold and glass tiles, influenced by Thailand's art and architecture.

"Their torches, which are usually coconut husks and bamboo chutes now have glass tile on them, gold, everything in metal," said Probst. "And it's going to be very fun to snuff these."

Probst is especially excited about the new season's snuffer. The piece, used to extinguish one cast member's flame every week, was made by hand especially for the Thailand adventure.

The new tribal council area has a voting urn and the voting platform, but the cast member who has been voted off will follow a new route to oblivion. He or she will walk through a big jetty in the back and down the steps to the dock where a boat will be waiting. The cast-off will get into the boat and float out into the Andaman Sea, never to participate in the game of "Survivor" again.

After leading his tour through the council area, Probst tells viewers, "The next time you see this, all of the technicians, all of our crew will be gone and they will have been replaced by the real Survivors who will be getting ready to vote out the first person.

"And," he adds, " I'll be getting ready to snuff their torch."